Collision of Stars
by Lady Eleanor Boleyn
Summary: Is there anything that Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, the fearsome Death Eater, will not do? Series of Drabbles in her POV


**AN: This was originally going to be all one piece, but then I realised that it worked better as a series of drabbles. All drabbles are between 40 and 140 words long (roughly). Enjoy!**

**I**

I am cutting through the mass of heaving, panicking, screaming bodies and flying curses almost effortlessly. Ducking, diving, shooting off my own spells "_Sectumsempra! Crucio! Avada Kedavra!"_ whenever the need arises. As yet another opponent crumples to the ground, gasping, I throw back my head and laugh. This is almost too easy.

And then the words, softly spoken though they are, reach my ears. "Hello, Bellatrix."

**II**

I spin round to see the hooded figure stepping over one of the prone bodies to get to me. I bring my wand up sharply, instinctively. How dare this - this stranger call me by name? My name, my famous pureblood name? They are not worthy to even mouth it; they besmirch it with their tainted, worthless lips.

I am halfway to casting another spell – _Conjunctivita _this time, which will be followed by _Sectumsempra _or_ Avada Kedavra_, depending on the circumstances, when she suddenly lets her hood fall – not much, but enough to reveal her eyes.

I freeze. The words, ones I have cried so often, lodge in my throat. Looking into her eyes is like peering into a mirror. They are my eyes, looking back at me from someone else's face. They always were.

**II****I**

"Andromeda." I whisper her name before I can stop myself. Her eyes flicker, just for a second, before she catches herself. "Sister. How nice to see you."

Her tone is calm and neutral, as if we're in an elaborate drawing room and not in the midst of a battle zone and yet, at her words, anger surges up inside me.

**IV**

"You don't call me sister! You are no sister to me! You're a filthy blood traitor. Why, I could strike you down here and now! By rights, I should!"

"Then why don't you? Go on, do it!" Andromeda taunts me and, for a moment, it is as if we have stepped back in time, back to our childhood, back to the days when we two were the closest sisters on Earth.

I raise my wand again, try to bring it down in a sharp striking movement, as I have done a thousand times before, but I can't. To my horror, I can't.

**V**

"Bellatrix! Finish her!" Rodolphus's voice breaks into my reverie. "We've got the Order on the way! And the Ministry! Finish her and **move!"**

I scowl at his retreating back – who does he think he is, ordering me around? I serve the Dark Lord and no other, least of all the fool I am forced to call my husband.

But he is right. Even through the melee of the battle, I can hear the "_crack" _as fresh opponents Apparate to the scene. I glance after him, then back at Andromeda. For once in my life, I don't know what to do.

**VI**

"Go, Bella." Andromeda's voice is soft; softer, gentler, more maternal, than any I have ever heard before.

I look at her once more, take in her eyes. Her eyes that are a mirror image of my own. Then I obey. I turn and run.

**VII**

I run and fight at the same time. I slay as many Aurors as I can manage on the way. I am the Dark Lord's protégé; his most skilled duelist and, Merlin, I put those skills to use now. Adversaries tumble all around me as I cut a swathe through them, trying to get away and still commend myself to my master. Trying to make those around me forget that I failed to finish one lone woman. I even save Rodolphus's sorry skin when he backs himself into a corner by shooting a full body bind at his would be assailant. I am a force to be reckoned with.

**VIII**

All the time, however, Andromeda's pale face haunts me. I know I was a fool to let her escape unscathed. She's an Order member, for Merlin's sake. If my master ever finds out, I'll be severely punished. But I still can't bring myself to care. I tell myself it's because, blood traitor or not, she's still pure. She could still be made to see sense. But, in my heart of hearts, I know that's not the real reason. The real reason is, she's my sister and, though I'm ruthless – some would say the most ruthless of all the Death Eaters – there are some things that even I, Bellatrix Zealous Lestrange _nee_ Black, will not do.


End file.
